Strength
by Mikkola
Summary: How long will it take for you to realize that I'm gone? - Kudo Mitsuki
1. Chapter 1

Strength

Chapter One

A pair of gold eyes stared at the location of a seven year old brunette boy, crouching down with his arms in front of his face. He was being confronted by a group of boys and girls about his age calling him names and throwing rocks at him. The loud sobbing indicated he was probably not there voluntarily.

The golden eyes stared at the brunettes bruised arms and caught glances of his large eyes. He had spiky brown hair and a weak look. Probably from all the rocks thrown and insults, not many could stand this sort of obstacle.

The crouching brunette heard the name calling stop and the rocks didn't seem to reach him anymore. He heard a high female voice, "Are you idiots? Didn't your mother tell you that rocks hurt? The..." her voice trailed off when she noticed that the kids had run off before her speech had ended.

"Hey, are you alright? You're Sawada Tsunayoshi-san, right?" The girl held out her hand as Tsuna looked up and nodded slightly. He took her hand and got pulled up in an instant. "I'm Kudo Mitsuki, the new student in your class, you can call me Mitsuki if you want," Tsuna, still new at this whole idea of "friends" just stood there.

He never really expected for the new girl to help him out. In fact he was pretty sure she was going to join the rest in bullying him. That's what most of them did, at first they had helped in the slightest ways but after that they got sucked into the river of bullies. Usually it would be after they got embarrassed along with him.

Tsuna felt a push of air in front of his face as Mitsuki decided to try and see if he was still awake. He remained silent all the way through Mitsuki treating his wounds and walking him home. All through this he stared at her and saw what everyone else saw. She had long brown hair that went pass her shoulders, large golden eyes and an aura of maturity that you wouldn't really find in seven year old.

He decided to trust her and her only with his problems. It wasn't like he had much choice though as anyone else was bullying him or just averted their eyes.

Mitsuki was quite happy to become friends with someone so cute and his clumsiness didn't really help. She was trying to get him to talk or even make a noise other than a few odd hiccups and sobs. Mitsuki let it go as she thought her new friend was just shy.

The next day Mitsuki talked to him with such a friendly face on that she shocked the whole of Tsuna's class and all those bullying him. Mitsuki was able to make the bullying almost disappear but there were times when she couldn't be there for every time someone called him 'Dame-Tsuna' but Tsuna was fine with that.

They spent most of their time together and Mitsuki was able to read Tsuna like a book after a year as friends. At one point Mitsuki even found out about Tsuna's father that even Tsuna didn't know. His father, Iemitsu, was in actual fact, part of the mafia.

-Flashback-

Mitsuki was waiting in Tsuna's living room for Tsuna to come back from the bathroom when she heard someone talking on the phone. Interested, she tip-toed to the source of the noise and saw a blonde man with a beard in a suit.

He was struggling to get his shoes on while juggling with the phone. "Yes, they don't know about the mafia," that was all Mitsuki was able to hear before she heard Tsuna flush the toilet. She tip-toed in a rush back to the living room and hurriedly ran to her spot and sat down as she heard Tsuna's loud stomping approach.

-Flashback End-

She kept that secret for the years she spent with Tsuna as she knew that meddling in the mafia where unnecessary was dangerous.

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**Thanks for reading my first fan fiction that I decided to publish. I had a few previous ones but I wasn't happy with it. At first I was going to merge two chapters together but then I wasn't so sure.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Four Years Later – Age: 11

Over the past four years Tsuna and Mitsuki had overcome many 'disasters' but one of them was never a serious fight. It was probably a miracle the two had never fought over anything excluding the childish fights over food or play fights.

That's probably why when they had their first serious fight the result was much worse. One bad thing that happened during this fight was that the bullies took this chance to bully Tsuna even worse to make up for all those years of happiness. Mitsuki, having no other friends than Tsuna was always alone, which wasn't a feeling she was use to. Without Tsuna, Mitsuki barely existed and no one was trying to include her.

The worse thing that happened during the fight was probably something that Tsuna would never forgive himself for.

It was the fifth day of their fight and they walked home the same way they had done the four times before, in silence and one ahead of the other. Mitsuki usually took the lead and Tsuna never tried to take that position. He was very confused and the bullying did not help clear his mind.

The two kept this up only because they always believe they would have time to apologize later. They didn't think something so cliché would happen such as a life threatening event would occur when they were arguing. If they knew they would be the best friends again like nothing ever happened but I wonder what would happen if both of them were to be effected.

The two stopped as they had reached a crossing. Tsuna must have tuned out during that time because he only realised what happened when he jumped at a noise. He had heard the dreadful sounds of a vehicle screeching accompanied by the vehicle hitting something with a loud THUMP.

Tsuna's eyes widened as they began to shake with the rest of his body. He took a few shaky steps towards a bloody body on its back and the head facing the other way. Tsuna refused to believe it had been who he thought it was, his saviour, protector, and his very first friend, Mitsuki.

His knees dropped to the ground as he slowly reached out to check if it really was her. He brought the girl's head to face him and he saw the familiar golden eyes.

His voice was weak and gave away the fact that he needed to cry, "_Mit...Mitsu...ki?_" The girl opened her mouth to say something but it ended with her coughing up blood.

Tsuna felt the tears run down his cheek, never ending. He grabbed Mitsuki's blood soaked hand and held it between his own two hands. "Mitsuki, Mitsuki, Mitsuki!" everyone time he begged her name it became more desperate.

"Mitsuki, I'm sorry, don't leave me, I'll never do it again," his begging always filled with those few phrases. Even after the ambulance arrived Tsuna held onto her hand tightly and refused to let go until someone said, "She's going to die if you don't let her go."

Mitsuki's parents were to be contacted but it seems that they didn't exist anymore. Her guardian was an aunt and her grandma that lived with them. Tsuna's parents had to come as well but as usual only Nana Sawada showed up. Tsuna's father would only be able to arrive the day after tomorrow.

Tsuna's only saviour from all this was his mother who whispered soothing words in his ear as he hugged her. Nana kept telling him things that people would usually say: "It's okay" "It's not your fault" "She'll wake up soon and…"

Mitsuki was saved but not completely, she was stuck in a coma.

Tsuna spent quite a few weeks after just crying or visiting Mitsuki while she recovered. He would always visit every day until the mafia entered his life.

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**Right into the tragedy. In a tragedy sort of mood I guess. Having a document page up makes parents think your doing something important... Anyway for those who have decided to continue onto this chapter let's hope I keep you reading to the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Two years later – A few weeks after Reborn's arrival

During the two years after what had happened, the bullying slowly came back but to the public's eye it wasn't as bad as before. To Tsuna though it was terrible as now he understood what was happening and he was aware of all the loud whispering behind his back (or to his face.)

His school grades remained the same though, under average and for that Reborn had appeared. Using this excuse Reborn had wriggled his way into Tsuna life to make him become the tenth boss. Tsuna didn't believe him as all Reborn has done in the past few weeks was 1) embarrass him, 2) make him go through about 29 uniforms and counting, and 3) ruin his chances with his crush, Sasagawa Kyoko (not that he had much.)

Worse of all was the fact that Tsuna hadn't kept his promise to himself and visit **her** in weeks.

Here Reborn was, sitting on Tsuna's shoulder as they walked to the Namimori Hospital. Reborn had caught Tsuna trying to sneak out using the front door (Reborn was quite disappointed with this attempt) and decided to tag along.

The two walked in and the receptionist at the front desk smiled, "Tsuna! I was getting worried about you when you didn't turn up these past few weeks," Tsuna replied by laughing nervously and walking quickly to **her **room.

Room 207.

As soon as they entered Reborn felt a faint presence, well two presences but the two were bit different, one was of the girl lying on the bed and the second felt the same as the first but was much fainter, sort of like it didn't exist at all. As Reborn thought he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, it became clearer as Tsuna walked closer and closer to the comatose girl. Kudo Mitsuki, what Reborn had seen was a ghost-like version of Kudo Mitsuki.

Reborn jumped off Tsuna's shoulder and landed on the other side of the bed, right in front of "Mitsuki" startling Tsuna along the way. Reborn stared at "Mitsuki" as she slowly realized how her presence was acknowledged. Her eyes widened but then she thought back to the first time this happened.

Flashback…

Ghost Mitsuki sat on a seat outside her room as she waited for something to happen, anything to end her boredom. She stayed in her seat until she noticed a bottom was about to squish her to death and she quickly slid to the next seat. She looked up to see a mother and her son; the son couldn't have been more than ten.

For a second Mitsuki thought their eyes locked but then she reminded herself that she was invisible, a ghost, no one was suppose to be able to see her.

"Mom! You nearly squished the girl next to you when you sat down!"

"Don't be silly boy, there's no one there."

Mitsuki was shocked, surprised, glad, she even started laughing a little but then she noticed how the boy began reacting towards her actions. She thought of the troubles he would have to go through if he continued on. Just as the boy was about to laugh along she immediately made a serious face and placed a finger on her lips _shhh_.

"Son? Are you alright?"

"Oh, sorry mom I must be imagining things."

Flashback End…

Mitsuki recognized that black suit and fedora, he was Tsuna's home tutor, Reborn, always watching, making sure that Tsuna slowly came out of his tiny comfort zone to become what everyone saw in him. Mitsuki knew that Tsuna had been chosen as a candidate to be Vongola's 10th Boss. She knew that he was slowly making his famiglia, slowly becoming stronger with the support he found. She knew this and believed that her role was coming to an end. Mitsuki just wished that all would work out so that Tsuna would be smiling a true smile in the future.

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**I give you my short chapter update as I'm more used to writing at school where my writing is spaced out and larger that others… Isn't as proofread and much as the first two chapters but when I say I was going to fix it I got lazy... If there's anything too badly done I'll fix and reupload (maybe.) If there's anything I need to improve on just tell me as I'm still not good at this.**


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